Where Do My Loyalties Lie?: Top 25 Jesus Quotes: #13

Something about watching romantic comedies makes us relationship gurus.

We can see potential threats to fidelity and loyalty from a mile away...within the unrealistic confines of one of Hollywood's steadfast genres.

• "No! Don't go out with him! Can't you see he doesn't really care about you?"
• "That guy better stop hanging out after work with her..."
• "What are they THINKING??!?"

But when it comes to real life, we struggle a bit.

In fact, we struggle so much that it wouldn't hurt to get the 13th quote about Jesus (on azquotes.com's top-25 list) put on a pair of contact lenses so it was always in front of us:

"Beware of anything

that competes with your loyalty

to Jesus Christ."  -  Oswald Chambers

Truth is...Whether it's commitment to a sports team or loyalty to a job or even dedication to a particular idea about Jesus, anything that takes precedence ahead of allegiance to the actual person of Jesus is a foundation of shifting sand.

P.S. You are invited to have Chambers' "My Utmost for His Highest" daily readings actually read to you by checking out the "My Utmost for His Highest Daily Reading" Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/UtmostReading)

Or...you could subscribe to this blog's author's YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/user/deweyroth/featured)

Acts 2:29-35 With Footnotes

Brothers: I must speak to you quite plainly about our patriarch David. He died and was buried, and his grave is here with us to this very day. He was a prophet, and he knew God's promise to him: God made a vow that he would make one of David's descendants a king, just as David was. David saw what God was going to do, and so he spoke about the resurrection of the Messiah when he said,

"He was not abandoned in the world of the dead;   his flesh did not decay."

God has raised this very Jesus from the dead, and we are all witnesses to this fact. He has been raised to the right side of God and received from him the Holy Spirit, as his Father had promised; and what you now see and hear is his gift that he has poured out on us. For David himself did not go up into heaven; rather he said,

"The Lord said to my Lord:'Sit here at my right side,until I put your enemies as a footstool under your feet'."

I can see how blind I really was now

My lies were eyes for a blind man

Look at me, my Lord said look at me now

And He gave sight to this blind man

The devil's lost again

The devil's lost again

I can tell how deaf I really was now

My ears were jeers of the dying

Woah, Living Word, my Lord's the Living Word now

He spoke, I woke from my screaming

The devil's lost again

The devil's lost again

The devil is a liar

The devil is a liar

I could feel how dead I really was now

My pride was the guide through a graveyard

Rise and walk, my Lord said rise and walk now

My life is yours for the giving

The devil's lost again

The devil's lost again

The devil is a liar

The devil is a liar

"The Devil's Lost Again"
©1974 Latter Rain Music and Word Music, Inc.

https://youtu.be/s1GJj1b3_pE

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Truth is...The totally rocking nature of this song absolutely fits the message of Satan's defeat because of Jesus' victory over death. "The devil ain't got no hold on me!" (Want some more righteous rock-n-roll? Click that quote and rock on.)

You Have Heard That It Was Said (2)...

...God never gives you more than you can handle. But I say unto thee...mule fritters!

Don't get me wrong, I understand how the idea sounds Biblical. We hear "God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear" and think, "See? God won't give you more than you can handle!"

But we need to read ALL of 1 Corinthians 10:13 to get the whole concept: "No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it."

     1.  Paul is specifically talking about temptation; not the stressful or worrisome life situations that threaten to overwhelm us.
     2.  Even if we viewed those life situations as "temptations," God is not promising to make us powerful enough to blast them out of the water. He is promising to "provide a way out."  He is promising to help us endure them.

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Truth is...God is not so much interested in strengthening us to the point of being able to handle anything that comes our way as He is longing to have us depend on Him: "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me." (Matthew 11:29)

Self-Awareness Made Holy: Top 25 Jesus Quotes: #14

It was C. S. Lewis who said, "Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less."

The Apostle Paul wrote, "Through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith." (Romans 12:3 NASB)

I would generally agree that thinking of oneself at all is a dangerous, slippery path.

And yet...

Brennan Manning traveled a long and twisted road to get to a place where his observations on life and love and himself mattered and were able to influence and encourage hundreds of thousands of people.

From page 19 of The Ragamuffin Gospel, this is Brennan at his best:

"My deepest awareness of myself is that I am deeply loved by Jesus Christ and I have done nothing to earn it or deserve it."

Truth is...I believe the more I can see myself in this light, the more I will be able to live a life of powerful humility...like Christ.

Acts 2:28 With Footnotes

You have shown me the paths that lead to life, and by your presence you will fill me with joy.

Love...Peace...Joy

Stop, think it over

Over again

Love...Peace...Joy

Stop, think it over

Over my friend

You can have these

If you're born again

My friend

So don't you try to hide any longer

'Cause you need love

You won't have to cry any longer

'Cause you'll have love

In your heart...

Love

"Love Peace Joy"
©1974 Latter Rain Music and Word Music, Inc.

https://youtu.be/WtV3EyZDspc

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Truth is...When I suggest Jesus as the appropriate object of your devotion, I'm not being judgmental or pushy. I'm just "one beggar telling another beggar where to find the bread" (Daniel T. Niles).

Singlemindedness and the Right-Fielder

We turn to Lucy Van Pelt for today's reminder that attitude is everything.

Truth is..."If you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail." ~ Abraham Maslow

The Crux of the Matter: Top 25 Jesus Quotes: #15

Number 15 on our hit parade of quotes about Jesus comes to us from the well-known pen of Oswald Chambers. His book, My Utmost for His Highest, was first published in 1927 (ten years after his death), has never been out of print, and remains a top-seller in devotional literature.

The thought being featured today is this:

"The center of salvation is the Cross of Jesus, and the reason it is so easy to obtain salvation is because it cost God so much."

Don't misunderstand. To say that salvation is easy to obtain is certainly true, but it doesn't mean that fleshing that out on a day-by-day basis is a stroll in the park. There's probably a good reason Paul tells us to "work out your salvation with fear and trembling." (Philippians 2:12)

In fact, in the very next verse, Paul is kind enough to tell us that good reason. It's because "it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose."

The creator of all that exists is working within me to accomplish His purpose. Just as He was working through Jesus Christ by sending Him to the cross. If that doesn't fill me with a fearsome sense of awe and enough wonder to set my knees to knocking, what will?

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Truth is..."Never forget what Jesus did for you. Never take lightly what it cost Him. And never assume that if it cost Him His very life, that it won't also cost you yours." (Rich Mullins)